How do you know when there's a problem and the extent?

[lottieandmia]

My dd is nearly 4 - she's due to start reception in September. She's been at the same nursery since she was 2. Today her key worker said that sometimes dd struggles to understand concepts when there are a lot of variables, like a picture with a lot of different stimuli. Her language is ok, maybe a little behind her peers but her communication is fine (though she sometimes avoids talking and gestures instead) and also her socialisation is fine apparently.

I have an older dd with autism, so I do watch for anything odd. The nursery said they are not sure how she will cope in a class of 30 plus children and that she learns better in small groups. In this case, would a private school environment be better with smaller class sizes.

I asked if they felt she should be assessed, they said not.

I am trying to figure out how you know when a child may need a statement or whether they are just perhaps a bit slower at learning and need to learn in a smaller group.

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Perhaps the bigger social group will help to bring her on. I think you need to trust your own judgement. If you think a smaller group will suit her more and help make her feel secure, confident and happy then do it. I wouldn't, personally, make any decisions purely based on what the staff had said though, especially if you had never had any concerns beforehand.
Not sure if that helps.

I don't have any real concerns that she may have a pervasive developmental delay or anything like that. But if I did feel that she had I would be the last person in denial as I've been through it with my older child and would seek a statement asap.

I feel it may be that she's a bit slower in some areas than others her age. Her language seems normal to me - she's just not as articulate as some 4 year olds. But tbh I put that down to the fact that she has glue ear.

So the question is do you feel she would cope better in a bigger or smaller group? Perhaps the word should have been suit rather than cope.

I think she's less likely to get 'lost' in a small group. She is starting to recognise numbers and some letters but is nowhere near reading and can't write her name yet, though she is not 4 yet. My older dd who is now in year 4, I remember struggled with ORT when she was in reception and the private school tried different schemes until they found one that she found easier to read and after that she was fine.

The nursery younger dd goes to is Ofsted outstanding but they haven't communicated very clearly with me about how she's doing and I had to press them to find out. I think they should have told me earlier about their concerns as I'm running out of time to get her a place. They gave me some of the work they are doing with her for me to do with her at home and she seems able to do it fine with me, but perhaps that's because it's quiet at home?

Today her key worker said that sometimes dd struggles to understand concepts when there are a lot of variables, like a picture with a lot of different stimuli.

Can you explain a bit what you mean by this? Do you mean she finds it difficult to describe what's going on in a picture with lots of things going on? The other things, with numbers and letters sounds totally age appropriate to me TBH, I have a DS the same age and a slightly older DD.

Yes, the impression I got was that the key worker noticed she finds it difficult to describe what's going on when lots of things are going on in the picture.